Amazing Spider-Man Vol 1 290
. Peter says it was a "long time ago", but per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, roughly seven years have passed between that story and this one. When Aunt May comes up with the tea, he notices that his microscope is missing and asks Aunt May what happened to it. May explains that she donated it to a church bazaar which is trying to raise money for a new orphanage. She presumes that she must have given it away with some of Peter's old toys by mistake.In this story, Peter states that the microscope that was given to the church bazaar was the same one that Uncle Ben gave him in . However, Peter is mistaken as he left that microscope at Uncle Ben's grave in , it was subsequently picked up by the groundskeeper to give to his own son. One could presume that Peter had more than one microscope and he is confusing the two. Peter tells her that it is no big deal, but when he leaves shortly thereafter he thinks about how much that microscope meant to him back in high school. Peter recalls how devoted to science he was as a teenager, and while he still loves science, being Spider-Man has made his further education impossible. Peter soon finds himself at the church bazaar and goes intside to visit Father Curtis. In the church, he is told to come back later to view the sceptre. Father Curtis apologizes for Max, a member of Heaven's Angels, a neighborhood program run by ex-gang members. Curtis then explains that they are displaying the Judas Sceptre, on loan from to the church. The priest intends to charge an admission fee for people to view the holy relic in order to raise funds for the new orphanage. When Father Curtis asks Peter what he wants, Peter is about to ask for his microscope back when he hears how it is being put up for auction. Peter instead tells the priest that he and his Aunt May are happy to help. Unfortunately for Peter, he hasn't sold any pictures recently and can't spare the money to buy his microscope back. As Peter leaves, one of the police guards asks Max to take it easy on people as they are professionals. Max assures them that he doesn't want to cause any trouble. Nobody is aware of the fact that Max has a gun tucked into the back of his pants. Peter then decides to walk around the bazaar where he sees a child being dragged away from the midway. He overhears the boy expressing his interest in baseball, but his father tells him that he will be an orthopedic surgeon like he is. Peter remarks about how when he was growing up, his Aunt May let him make his own decision, even if they were wrong they were always his own. Meanwhile, back at Aunt May's house, May gets a phone call from Mary Jane asking if Peter is still there. When he learns that he has left, she tells Aunt May that it's not important and ends the call. However, she is lying to Peter's Aunt, as Mary Jane needs to talk to Peter because she feels like her life is about to explode. Back at the church, Peter scrounges his money together in the hopes of bidding for his microscope. As the auction begins, Peter overhears someone calling the alarm because a gang of hoodlums stole the money from one of the rides. At first, Peter thinks about dismissing this, but then recalls that the last time he shirked his responsibility his Uncle Ben died.Uncle Ben was shot by a burglar that Peter failed to stop as Spider-Man back in . Peter slips away and changes into Spider-Man and goes after them. However, before he can catch the thieves his spider-sense goes off, warning him of danger inside the church. Looking into the window, he sees Max robbing the police officers of the Judas Sceptre. Spider-Man leaps in and knocks down Max, but the officers think the wall-crawler is trying to steal the artifact for himself. When they open fire, Spider-Man leaps to safety, allowing Max to escape. That's when Father Curtis arrives and stops the officers long enough for Spider-Man to go back on Max's trail. On the construction site of the new orphanage, Max comes across two kids and grabs one of them as a hostage. Spider-Man arrives and tells Max to let the boy go, but Max refuses. He promises that he will let the boy go if Spider-Man allows him to leave, but the wall-crawler doesn't trust him. While Max is focused on the situation, Spider-Man uses his webbing to snare some paint cans. He then waits until Max tries to go down the ladder to get off the scaffolding. In order to keep his balance, Max has to take the gun away from the boy's head, leaving him open for Spider-Man to whip the paint cans at him. When they hit, Max drops the boy and falls off the scaffold, and is quickly grabbed by the wall-crawler who knocks out the would-be theif with a single punch. In the aftermath, Spider-Man leaves Max with the police and goes out looking for the gang members who escaped with the stolen receipt. He finds them being busted by police and snaps a few photos for the Daily Bugle. Suddenly, Spider-Man remembers his microscope and quickly changes back into Peter Parker. He arrives at the auction just in time to put in the winning bid for his microscope. Later, Peter is happy he won his microscope because it is a reminder of everything he ever wanted out of life. This makes Peter realize that he has to start living a new life. Soon, Peter arrives at Mary Jane's apartment as he wants to talk with her. However, she is busy packing for a very important trip. As she fusses over the deails, Peter can't get a word in edgewise. Peter eventuall manages to get Mary Jane to stop long enough for him to ask her a very important question: Will she marry him? | Appearing1 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * * * Antagonists: * * Max of the Heaven's Angels Other Characters: * * * * Father Curtis * Kevin * Billy Locations: * ** *** *** *** Mary Jane's Apartment ** *** **** Items: * * Vehicles: * | Notes = Continuity Notes Continuity Errors Publication Notes * Reprinted in Amazing Spider-Man The Wedding. | Trivia = | Recommended = | Links = }}